I’m definitely a fan of the Jaywalker socks, as you can see here and here. I made them with Koigu two other times, which was wonderful and delightfully soft. This version is made from Vesper Sock in the colorway Astro.

When helping me pack up my yarn room for my impending doom (I mean move), my friend Missy saw this yarn and remarked on its beauty. It had been sitting in my stash (wound even) for at least 4 years. I decided it was time to make it into something. I have habit of buying a lot of self striping or variegated yarns because I love them, even though they mostly lend themselves to a lot of plain stockinette. I first started knitting these in the Charade pattern, but I wasn’t in love with it, so I started over and made the Jaywalkers to give those colors and stripes the glory they deserved.

Vesper sock yarn comes in some amazing colors. It seems like this colorway is not currently available. I’ve heard she dyes in small batches and they’re snapped up quickly, so if you like the yarn, keep your eyes on the site or subscribe to their mailing list. I was a bit confused by the label. The yarn is 100 percent superwash merino, yet recommends hand washing. I checked with Missy to see if she would be amenable to caring for socks like that, and she said yes with no hesitation, so I forged ahead. If anyone has machine washed Vesper sock with luck, please let me know. Koigu is another yarn is superwash merino, and though the label doesn’t say it is safe to machine wash, I’ve had lots of success doing so. I don’t know Vesper sock well enough to risk it.

This is my first time using an afterthought heel. This kind of heel is mentioned all the time on the Knitmore Girls podcast, which I’ve been obsessed with lately. I didn’t want to interrupt the perfect little stripes in those Jaywalkers to make the heel flap. There are many different tutorials for afterthought heels available online if you’re interested in trying them. I think I will always love the heel flap for its inherent sturdiness a little more than the afterthought, but this heel was easy enough to execute, and it allowed for no color interruptions. It made a nice little bulls-eye with the colors.

Each pair of Jaywalkers I’ve made was knitted from the toe up so I could use the maximum amount of yarn. I find this especially important with yarns like Koigu that come in 175 yard skeins. I cranked these out in about a week. Now I’m on to some Staccato Socks for this week.

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